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impulse

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impulse

 

  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Impulse  \Im"pulse\,  n.  [L.  impulsus  fr  impellere.  See 
  {Impel}.] 
  1.  The  act  of  impelling,  or  driving  onward  with  sudden  force; 
  impulsion;  especially,  force  so  communicated  as  to 
  produced  motion  suddenly,  or  immediately. 
 
  All  spontaneous  animal  motion  is  performed  by 
  mechanical  impulse.  --S.  Clarke. 
 
  2.  The  effect  of  an  impelling  force;  motion  produced  by  a 
  sudden  or  momentary  force. 
 
  3.  (Mech.)  The  action  of  a  force  during  a  very  small  interval 
  of  time;  the  effect  of  such  action  as  the  impulse  of  a 
  sudden  blow  upon  a  hard  elastic  body. 
 
  4.  A  mental  force  which  simply  and  directly  urges  to  action 
  hasty  inclination;  sudden  motive;  momentary  or  transient 
  influence  of  appetite  or  passion;  propension;  incitement; 
  as  a  man  of  good  impulses;  passion  often  gives  a  violent 
  impulse  to  the  will 
 
  These  were  my  natural  impulses  for  the  undertaking. 
  --Dryden. 
 
  Syn:  Force;  incentive;  influence;  motive;  feeling; 
  incitement;  instigation. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Impulse  \Im*pulse"\,  v.  t.  [See  {Impel}.] 
  To  impel;  to  incite.  [Obs.]  --Pope. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  impulse 
  n  1:  an  instinctive  motive;  "profound  religious  impulses"  [syn:  {urge}] 
  2:  a  sudden  desire;  "he  bought  it  on  impulse"  [syn:  {caprice}, 
  {vagary},  {whim}] 
  3:  the  electrical  discharge  that  travels  along  a  nerve  fiber; 
  "they  demonstrated  the  transmission  of  impulses  from  the 
  cortex  to  the  hypothalamus"  [syn:  {nerve  impulse}] 
  4:  (electronics)  a  sharp  transient  wave  in  the  normal 
  electrical  state  (or  a  series  of  such  transients);  "the 
  pulsations  seemed  to  be  coming  from  a  star"  [syn:  {pulsation}, 
  {pulsing},  {pulse}] 
  5:  the  act  of  applying  force  suddenly;  "the  impulse  knocked  him 
  over"  [syn:  {impulsion},  {impetus}] 
  6:  an  impelling  force  or  strength;  "the  car's  momentum  carried 
  it  off  the  road"  [syn:  {momentum}]




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